I was quite horrified to discover that the English name for the lovely little bug below is Stink bug. Stink bug? As in smelly? How dare they! I’ve never smelled anything nasty when taking a closer look at the bug. The scientific name, Pentatomidae, is a bit better already. It roughly means ‘five sections’ and if you look at those insects from above you see where it comes from. They do, in fact, have an abdomen with five distinct corners. However, that still doesn’t quite do it for me. Then I discovered that Shield bug is also a name used for them. Now that’s a lot better. They do look a lot like a shield from old times that held the family colours. Especially the species that have the more fancy patterns like the black-red striped one. The guy below is a simple green with some brown. Not the most striking of shield bugs, but good enough for me. The ones that don’t try to get your attention are usually the best :).

Ohh thank you! I guess this species thn is of the shield bug variety instead of the stink one. I picked this one up and moved him around without ever smelling anythimg. Can’t say I mind the absence of stink too much.